Dancing with Fire's definitions
A member of the Vietnamese political and military movement led by Ho Chi Minh that challenged the Japanese and defeated the French between 1941 and 1954.
When the Japanese surrendered to the Allies, the Communist Viet Minh, led by Ho Chi Minh, reasserted independence as a democratic republic. The French moved in militarily to try to reclaim the nation, ultimately supporting the government of Bao Dai along with the United States and Britain. The Chinese began supplying Ho Chi Minh with weapons, and fighting in the country continued through the 1950s.
by Dancing with Fire September 7, 2012

No military in the world sees more action in more places than the United States Marine Corps. The average marine has been in at least two combat engagements per year since 1775. As a result, the Marine Corps' close combat program has been incorporating techniques from the various countries they've killed people in, culminating in the "Marine Corps Martial Arts Program," or "MCMAP." The modern program also teaches the use of improvised weapons, bayonets, and parts of the gun other than the bullets.
Before MCMAP came along, the marines had something called the LINE System (Linear Infighting Neural Override Engagement) which was invented in the 1980s. MCMAP was formed in 2001 because marines were increasingly being used in situations that didn't require them to kill their opponents, and that was the only thing LINE was good for. Now, when you use a MCMAP move on somebody, each move typically has the option to utterly destroy whatever body part you have in your hands or just put it in excruciating pain...or both, thus leading to a kinder, friendlier Marine Corps that only sometimes kills you.
by Dancing with Fire June 8, 2011

A militant Islamist organization, formed by Osama bin Laden in the 1990s, that has adopted takfiri doctrines and has declared jihad against all Westerners and their Muslim supporters.
by Dancing with Fire January 16, 2011

by Dancing with Fire December 28, 2010

Sumo wrestling is not only the oldest of Japan’s various martial arts, it also evolved into the most distinct and ritualistic, to this day still heavily centered around the Shinto religion. When the sport was first introduced 1500 years ago it was performed mostly to ensure good harvests. Sumo’s popularity quickly spread, becoming a more public and widespread event. Matches were usually brutal, the loser often expected to forfeit his life. By the 7th century Sumo had fallen under the protection of the warring Shogunite regime and was largely banned as a public spectacle. Only the samurai, or warrior class, were allowed to practice it as part of their military training. Once peace was finally restored Sumo once again fell under the patronage of the Japanese royal courts and was dubbed the Imperial sport. By the 15th century Sumo wrestling had adopted a set of strict rules and the most talented champions were offered patronage by powerful feudal lords. In the early 1700’s “banzuke” or ranking lists, were established, a system which is still strictly adhered to today. The objective of the “sumotori," or competitors, many of whom weigh between 250 and 500 pounds, is to either knock his opponent from a specially-sized ring or manoeuvre him so that any part of his body touches the ground. This is done by using one or a series of 70 accepted Sumo moves, some of which are pushing, slapping, hoisting, tripping, pinning or throwing.
Six 15 day tournaments are held each year in Japan in the cities of Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya and Fukuoka. Sumo matches are fought in a “dohyo," a raised and sanctified platform constructed with clay and sand and onto which a 14 foot 10 inch circle is marked out using half buried straw bales. Suspended above the ring is a wooden structure that resembles the roof of Shinto shrine. Each Sumo tournament begins with much pageantry and ceremony. The wrestlers, the referees, and the various attendants and helpers wear colorful attire, the design of which remains steeped in ancient traditions and meanings dating back to Japan’s Edo period. The grand champions, all wearing intricately embroidered silk aprons some of which are worth in excess of 500,000 yen, enter the ring first and begin their own elaborate rituals called “doyho-iri." There is no weight class in Sumo wrestling so very often the “rikishi," or competitors, find themselves squaring off against a much heftier opponent.
by Dancing with Fire January 26, 2011

The beautiful woman was saved just in the nick of time as some man untied her from the train tracks. She later gave him the best head ever.
by Dancing with Fire December 28, 2010

South African Boer “pioneers” who trekked away from Cape Colony and civilization to settle deep inland on the South African frontier.
By the beginning of the eighteenth century thousands of trekboers were living permanently on grazing farms in the interior, some of them temporarily migrating each winter to the coast, so that their cattle might enjoy its sweet grass, but generally moving farther into the plains when their land was exhausted or when their journeys of exploration had revealed more attractive grazing or water. These people rarely put up permanent dwelling places; their homes were the wagons parked by a water point on the `loan places' they had registered with the Company. Their farms usually approximated to the conveniently-managed size (for Africa) of 6,000 acres, and they generally marked out this area in a rough and ready manner by trotting a horse from the wagon along all four points of the compass for half an hour.
by Dancing with Fire June 24, 2011
